88-year-old typist still works full time and does not plan to stop

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke (center) delivers flowers to Doris Bedillion (left) as her co-worker Christie Hagan and others watch during a party celebrating Bedillion's 30-year work anniversary at the Lampion Center in Evansville, Ind., Wednesday, June 6, 2018. The 88-year-old serves as a full-time senior administrative assistant for the Lampion Center and has no plans to transition to part-time or retire in the near future. (Photo: SAM OWENS/ COURIER & PRESS)Buy Photo

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- When Doris Bedillion was choosing her career, there were only three options.

She could be a teacher, a nurse – or a secretary.

“That was about the extent of it in those days,” Bedillion said. “There wasn’t much women could do. I couldn’t stand to be a nurse, and there wasn’t money for teacher’s college.”

So in 1947, at 18-years-old, Bedillion went to business school. She had no idea then the impact that decision would have on her life. More than 70 years later, Bedillion is still using that education, working full time as an administrative assistant at a Lampion Center in Evansville.

And she has no plans on stopping.

This week, the Lampion Center celebrated Bedillion’s 30th anniversary of working for the company. She is the longest running employee at Lampion. And at 88 years old, she is also the oldest.

So on Wednesday, the Lampion employees gathered to eat cake, sip coffee and hear stories from Bedillion’s life.

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Doris Bedillion, 88, awes over her large piece of vanilla cake during a party celebrating her 30-year work anniversary at the Lampion Center in Evansville, Ind., Wednesday, June 6, 2018. She has served as a senior administrative assistant (Photo: SAM OWENS/ COURIER & PRESS)

It’s been a long journey.

Bedillion was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has vague memories of the Depression and how little everyone had. And she has a vivid memory of the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

“We went to church that morning, and all the adults were huddled together talking,” Bedillion said. “I was a kid, so I didn’t know. But you could tell something was wrong.”

Like all young people in America during that time, World War II helped define Bedillion’s youth. When she was 16, she got her first job at a diner along an east-west running highway in Pennsylvania. The only thing she remembers about that job is the servicemen.

“Almost every young man was a serviceman in those days,” she said.

Bedillion remembers being smitten with the men in uniform. There was one afternoon in particular when a handsome young man ordered a burger. The teenage Bedillion was so flustered, she charged him $100 on the cash register.

“Now, in those days a hamburger was 10 cents,” Bedillion said, laughing. “I tell you, we spent all day trying to get that $100 off the cash register.”

After high school, Bedillion went to a business college for women run by a woman from the Women’s Army Corps.

“She ran that place like it was the army,” Bedillion said, with a laugh.

Bedillion was taught to use a typewriter, write in shorthand and take dictation. By the end of the course, she had learned to type flawlessly with a paper bag over her head.

She left the business college and took a job at an electrical engineering company.

“We built steel mills,” she said proudly.

Bedillion liked her work, but it wasn’t customary for women to have lasting careers in those days. And within a few years, she met a kind-hearted sailor at a church conference and married him.

“It was that uniform again,” she said, winking at her Lampion colleagues.

At the time, once women had children, they could no longer work.

“No one would hire you if you had children,” Bedillion said. “In fact, my husband and I applied for a mortgage for a house and they wouldn’t give it to us based on my salary because I was child-bearing age.”

Eventually, Bedillion did have children, and she left her job.

She raised her family in Pennsylvania, then moved to Evansville in 1980 when her husband was transferred here for work.

Bedillion probably would never have returned to work, but tragedy struck in 1988. Her husband fell ill and was unable to work. Bedillion needed a job to support them.

She applied at Lampion. It was called Family and Children’s Services then, and the company did adoptions.

It was the only place she applied, and they took her almost immediately. It was a miracle, she said.

Her husband died two years later.

At first, the job was a financial necessity. But as the years passed, it became something more.

While walking back to the Lampion Center, Dorris Bedillion and her co-worker Emily Morrison, Clinical Services Director, pass a sign congratulating Bedillion on her 30-year work anniversary, Wednesday afternoon, June 6, 2018. Bedillion, Morrison and Jennifer Childress (not pictured) had lunch together at Cork 'n Cleaver before going back to the office for a party held in Bedillion's honor. (Photo: SAM OWENS/ COURIER & PRESS)

Bedillion’s job has changed a lot over the years. When she started, she had to learn to use an electric typewriter for the first time. The electronic advancements came quickly after that. Today, Bedillion uses a new computer, typing doctor’s notes in files that are stored in the cloud.

The focus of Lampion Center has changed, as well. In the years Bedillion has worked there, the organization shifted from adoptions to crisis counseling for children and families.

Bedillion enjoys her work, she said. And she wants to continue.

“I’m going to keep working at Lampion Center for as long as they’ll have me,” Bedillion said, shooting Kyle a quick look.

Kyle grinned.

“Doris, we will keep you here forever,” she replied. “You’re pretty darn amazing.”